'How I Met Your Mother' creators tease upcoming moments, talk spinoff

CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler, far left, joins the cast, producers and crew of "How I Met Your Mother" as the series marked its 200th episode Thursday in Los Angeles.

CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler, far left, joins the cast, producers and crew of "How I Met Your Mother" as the series marked its 200th episode Thursday in Los Angeles. (Sonja Flemming / CBS)

Yvonne Villarreal

Daddy issues aren't at the center of a "How I Met Your Mother" spinoff so much as a need for a love story repository.

News recently spread that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, co-creators of the soon-to-be-departed CBS comedy, along with Emily Spivey ("Up All Night, "SNL"), would be producing a CBS pilot "How I Met Your Dad." As the title suggests, the narrative would focus on a female character's journey to find love and will center around a whole new set of characters unrelated to its predecessor.

Bays and Thomas admit that part of the idea for the offshoot may be that it allows them to have a place to plant those "HIMYM"-type ideas now that the nine-season comedy is set to end its run in April.

"Maybe subconsciously, in agreeing to try to continue this story, that was part of it," Bays said during a celebration of "HIMYM's" 200th episode on the comedy's set in Century City. "It's nice to know there's a place where love stories can keep being told and we will be able to have a place for it."

Thomas emphasized that the spinoff is "very much its own beast," but added "there is some comfort in knowing that if you have some great idea for another dating story, or breakup story, there is a new place to tell a new version of it."

That is, if CBS picks it up. Until then, the duo are focused on how they'll meet fans' expectations with the series finale of the show that Nina Tassler, on set to toast the show, credited with making CBS cool with young adults.

"We always had a plan of how we wanted to end the series," Thomas said. "And we're going to do it that way and hope that people like it. Some might like it more than others, but we believe it's the right ending to the story."

Here's a bit of what fans can expect in the episodes leading up to then:

--The milestone 200th episode, which will air Jan. 27, will feature a lot of her. So fans who have been wondering why the long-anticipated reveal, made at the end of last season, has taken a backseat, get ready to be rewarded.

"You are going to be so sick of her by the end of this episode," Thomas joked. "The 200th episode, she is the star of it. It's from her perspective ... anyone who wants more of her will love this episode. And past the episode, there will be quite a bit more of her, too. We wanted to find the right balance where it's still special when she appears. We like the idea of the audience tuning in not knowing if they're going to get her."

--And, hey, what about getting a name for mommy dearest (played by Cristin Milioti)? "You'll get a name ... before we're done. I won't say when and where," Thomas said. Bays added that they picked the name a while ago.

--The upcoming, much-talked-about rhyming episode will be almost entirely in flashback.

--An upcoming episode will be set largely in China. "That's real," Thomas. "It's an episode mostly in flashback, and mostly set in China. That will make sense once you see it." Time machine, structural jumpiness coming up that I think people will enjoy.

--Robin will be the last to meet the titular mother. And there's a significance to that. "We'll say it happens late in the season and there's definite significance." Thomas said. "It's a very important moment when they run into each other.